For the first time in history, toy giant LEGO and Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) have joined forces to create a motorised LEGO Technic L350F Volvo Wheel Loader.

Hitting shelves on 1st August 2014, the yellow remote controlled marvel in Volvo livery, not only drives, steers, lifts but also loads just like its real life high-tech 55 tonne equivalent. Fuelling your imagination further, the LEGO Technic Wheel Loader also converts into an equally impressive articulated A25F Volvo Hauler.

Retailing at £169.99 42030 LEGO Technic Wheel Loader will be the ideal toy to put aside for big and small fans alike this Christmas!

Comprising of over 1,600 intricate LEGO Technic parts and measuring 23cm in height and 59cm in length, the Wheel Loader is the latest flagship motorised model from the LEGO Technic line. Meticulously detailed and fully remote-controlled driving, digging and tipping functions, the LEGO model has all the features of Volvo’s largest real-life high-tech Wheel Loader.

Once built, activate the Wheel Loader power functions motors to get started, turn the articulated servo steering and watch the detailed six-cylinder engine pistons and fan move as you drive it into position. Then it’s time to put the industrial beast’s six cylinders to the test by lifting the motorised arm and tipping the giant bucket. The robust model’s loader arm can lift approximately 1KG and the attached bucket is the largest part ever engineered for a LEGO Technic model in its 37-year history.

Popular for its innovative and technically-advanced models, the LEGO Technic sets are supplemented with a wide variety of interconnecting plastic rods and parts, including gears, axles, pins, and beams, to create complex movable elements. As a result, the Wheel Loader is a highly sophisticated model that drives, steers, lifts and loads, even over difficult terrain. In addition, the filters can be removed, the radiator swings out, the pistons move and even the engine is painted green – just like a real Volvo L350F!

The LEGO Technic Volvo L350F Wheel Loader is aimed at children between 11 - 16, but will most likely also appeal to adults!

Each Wheel Loader set includes:

Servo motorXL motorLarge motorMedium motorTwo infrared receiversTwo remote controlsBattery box1, 636 LEGO Technic parts to build both Volvo modelsThis LEGO Technic Volvo model is the result of eight months collaboration between the LEGO Technic team and Volvo CE after a joint project, in which LEGO Technic elements had been used to create a production line concept demonstrator at Volvo. As a result a friendship struck up between Volvo engineer Johan Sahlström and LEGO engineer Anders Gaasedal Christensen. Thanks to their prompting, the idea of co-operating on an actual Volvo model was born, and the first L350F will roll out of the factory in Billund, Denmark this summer.

In order to capture a true likeness of the L350F Wheel Loader, the LEGO Technic designers studied the Volvo machines in great detail, taking the time to visit a construction site and even had a go at operating them.

“Like Volvo CE, our reputation has been built on yellow machines – and the Volvo L350F carries on that tradition in style, pushing the boundaries of creativity and functionality even further, Niels Henrik Horsted, Head of Marketing for LEGO Technic, concludes. “Not only will the Wheel Loader be our star machine for 2014 – it may even be our best seller ever.”

“Volvo CE and the LEGO Group together create a perfect match, both culturally and in what we try to achieve in our products.

We are extremely happy with the outcome, both from a functional and design point of view. LEGO Technic has captured the profile, expression and power of the machines in an incredible way, as well as including lots of cool features like a heavy lift boom and high dump height. The LEGO Group also shares our core value of safety, and these machines have been thoroughly tested,” says Mats Bredborg, Global Director of Brand Management for Volvo Construction Equipment.

The LEGO Technic Wheel Loader set is on sale in the UK from 1st August 2014 at all good toy retailers.

To see both Wheel Loaders in action check out this video on YouTube. More information is available on the Volvo Spirit Magazine site.